Indian brands have not come to a stage of international reckoning. At a broad level, this can be attributed to the fact that India Inc as a whole lacks a distinct brand identity. Explaining further, Ashish Balasundaram, an independent brand consultant based in Gurgaon, says, “While Japan is known for its electronic industry, Chinese brands are known for the value for money proposition. Likewise, Germany is about machines and America is about quality. India Inc unfortunately does not connote any such single, definite umbrella image.

This situation stems from the fact that there are certain basic shortcomings in the branding strategies employed by Indian product and service companies. “Most of the Indian brands are family run businesses. These brands have a subconscious trader psychology and are essentially transaction oriented,” observes Aziz Rawat, founder and creative director of General Sovereign Republic, an advertising agency based in Chicago, US. He adds, “The first thing that Indian businesses need to do is start thinking like brands. And that means transitioning from ‘transactional marketing’ to ‘relationship marketing’. Put simply, this means thinking more about consumers and having a business objective that is bigger than money and sales.”

Elaborating upon why there are no global Indian brands, Rawat says, “The biggest factor is the perception issue that makes Indian brands less competitive on the global stage. This has two parts two it. Firstly - the brand’s own perception of itself and secondly – the global consumer’s overall perception of Indian products and brands.”

Balasundaram agrees, adding that though Indian brands are at par with other brands in the international market they are unsure of how best to position themselves when it comes to quality. Rawat calls it “The ‘cool conundrum’.Every brand wants to be cool but cool is defined by the West. Indian CEOs look to the West for answers when they should be looking inwards. We are letting the West define what’s cool, even those things that are Indian. For example, yoga wasn’t cool in India till the West told us so. It’s a similar case with organic produce. The Indian farmer has been growing organic crops for centuries but the West made it cool for us,” he adds

The second issue is about Indian brands failing to deliver upon a promise. Because of all the foreign competition, Indian companies experience the pressure to perform. This pressure leads to a tendency to over promise and under deliver. “You can’t build a brand without a promise because people don’t buy products, they buy a promise of transformation. So this is a huge problem that can be easily corrected by a simple, truthful assessment of the promise that can be actually delivered” says Rawat.

How important is it for countries to tap into their own design heritage and influences as far as brand building is concerned? It is important simply because this approach lends authenticity to the branding exercise and authenticity is a hallmark of successful brands. “Countries are also brands and like any commercial brand like Apple, Harley Davidson or Nike they need to be authentic about who they are and derive inspiration from their own strengths and build on it,” says Rawat.

Talking about the importance of tapping into our design heritage, Dharmalingam Udaya Kumar, the man who designed the Indian rupee symbol, says, “I feel that most of our commercial symbols are largely inspired by Western design theories. While there is nothing wrong with this, we as a nation especially in this age of globalisation, need to understand that we have to draw upon our unique design heritage to devise symbols that exude a distinct Indian image with an international appeal. My rupee symbol manifested this belief.” Explaining further, Kumar, who is now an assistant professor at the design department of IIT Guwahati, says, “My symbol was perhaps the most easily comprehended. It combines elements from the Roman and Devanagari scripts. People educated in English as well as those educated in the regional languages can easily connect to it. In other words, it has mass appeal.”

Brand tips for India Inc.:

Be sure about what you want to project: Identify one big thing that defines your organisation and highlight it in all your communications.

Focus on building relationships instead of being just transaction oriented: While defining your service or product proposition ensure that you make realistic promises to the consumers and deliver upon each promise